The Ethics of the Family The Ethics of the Family Edited by Stephen Scales, Adam Potthast and Linda Oravecz The Ethics of the Family, Edited by Stephen Scales, Adam Potthast and Linda Oravecz This book first published 2010 Cambridge Scholars Publishing 12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2010 by Stephen Scales, Adam Potthast and Linda Oravecz and contributors All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-2057-1, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-2057-8 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements .................................................................................... ix Contributors................................................................................................ xi Chapter One............................................................................................... 1 Introduction What is a Family.......................................................................................... 2 An Introduction to Ethics: Some Basic Concepts........................................ 6 An Introduction to Some Prominent Ethical Theories................................. 9 Excerpt from J.S. Mill’s Utilitarianism..................................................... 16 Broadly Noncensequentialist Views: Divine Command Moral Theory .... 26 Excerpt from John Arthur’s “Does Morality Depend on Religion?”......... 30 Kantian Ethics ........................................................................................... 39 Excerpt from Immanuel Kant’s Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals..................................................................... 42 Contractarianism........................................................................................ 53 Excerpt from John Rawls’ A Theory of Justice ......................................... 59 Aristotelian Virtue Ethics .......................................................................... 72 Excerpt from Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics ........................................ 75 The Ethics of Care..................................................................................... 88 Excerpt from Carol Gilligan’s In a Different Voice................................... 91 Chapter Two .......................................................................................... 101 Love, Sex, and Marriage Introduction ............................................................................................. 102 Informalist Conceptions of Marriage and Some of Their Implications Steven Weimer and Sangeeta Sangha...................................................... 104 Teaching “Against Marriage,” or, “But, Professor, marriage isn’t a contract!” Kathryn Norlock...................................................................................... 121 vi Table of Contents Marriage, Parenting, and Sexual Orientation Mark Strasser........................................................................................... 133 A Liberal Conception of Civil Marriage Laura Osinski .......................................................................................... 144 The Ethics of Polyamorous Marriage Hallie Liberto........................................................................................... 165 ‘Hooking Up’: Moral Obligations and the Meaning of Sex Stephen Scales......................................................................................... 175 Chapter Three........................................................................................ 191 Parents and Children Introduction ............................................................................................. 192 Making Parents: Conventions, Intentions, and Biological Connections Yvette Pearson......................................................................................... 194 The Foundations of Licensing Parents Michael McFall ....................................................................................... 207 Intergenerational Justice and Care in Parenting Stephen Scales......................................................................................... 226 Ho, Ho, Hoax: Santa Claus and Parental Deception Ernani Magalhaes .................................................................................... 239 Moral Children Wade Robison ......................................................................................... 251 Filial Responsibility for Aging Parents Charles Zola ............................................................................................ 266 A Reflection on Confucian Ethics of the Family? Suk Choi.................................................................................................. 277 The Ethics of the Family vii Chapter Four ......................................................................................... 291 The Family and the Larger (Moral) Community Introduction ............................................................................................. 292 From ‘Supernanny’ to ‘The Baby Borrowers’: Reality Television as Family Teacher Kristie Bunton ......................................................................................... 294 Virtue Ethics as the Basis for Family Interaction James J. Ponzetti Jr.................................................................................. 308 An Examination of One Strategy for Reconciling Familial Love and Impartial Morality Eric Silverman......................................................................................... 317 Emotional Intelligence and Familial Relationships Diane Williamson.................................................................................... 329 A Value of Family: The Moral Significance of Involuntary Affiliations Michael Taber.......................................................................................... 343 Are There Forms of Rationality Unique to a Family that Can Justify the Concept of ‘Family Values’? Jeff Buechner........................................................................................... 350 Chapter Five .......................................................................................... 369 Family Practioners, Law, Ethics, and Emerging Technologies Introduction ............................................................................................. 370 Choice’s Challenge: Feminist Ethics and Reproductive Autonomy Elizabeth Meade ...................................................................................... 373 Superkid or Frankenchild: Ethical Issues in Chemically Enhancing the Next Generation Steven Weiss ........................................................................................... 380 Organ Donation Impasse and Family Rights Robert Muhlnickel................................................................................... 390 viii Table of Contents Conflicting Ethical Duties? The Dilemma of the Best Interests Attorney Paul Newhouse ........................................................................................ 407 Ethical Dilemmas and a Decision-making Process for Child Welfare Practice Karen Rice............................................................................................... 418 Index........................................................................................................ 427 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This volume came about as a result of the 10th International Conference of the Society for Ethics Across the Curriculum (SEAC). The three of us co- organized the conference and worked to see this volume through to completion. We would like to thank the members of the Executive Committee of SEAC for having confidence in the idea that the subject of family ethics would generate some exciting work in applied ethics; I think we were all surprised at just how fertile this ground proved to be. We owe a deep debt of gratitude to the Secretary-Treasurer of SEAC, Donna Werner, for her attention to the organizational details of the peer-review process for the conference. We would also like to thank the College of Liberal Arts of Towson University and the Department of Arts, Languages, and Philosophy of Missouri University of Science and Technology for their support of our work on this project. Our thanks as well to Scarlett Huffman at Harvard University Press and Amy Shapiro for their granting of permissions for the use of excerpts in Chapter One. But this volume is mainly the result of a great deal of work on the part of the contributing authors. We would like to thank them all for their patience and generosity during the editorial process. We would also like to thank Ana Maria Soto, Duncan Scales, and Wolfgang (Walt) Fuchs for their love, support, and wisdom. —Stephen Scales, (Department of Philosophy, Towson University) —Linda Oravecz, (Department of Family Studies and Community Development, Towson University) —Adam Potthast, (Department of Arts, Languages, and Philosophy, Missouri University of Science and Technology) CONTRIBUTORS Jeff Buechner is a member of the Department of Philosophy, Rutgers University-Newark, and Director of the Rutgers-Merck Summer Institute in Bioethics (whose participants are students in the Newark